Seymour Library Special Collections & Archives

Sharing some of the cool and interesting finds in Seymour Library's Special Collections, located in Galesburg, Illinois.

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Stack Stories!

The following was written by student worker, Wilder Myslivy, who has been working diligently on surveying our rare book collections. Wilder picked out and described three of his favorite books below. He pictured some beauties as well! 

These three books are selected from the Seymour Library’s Special Collections and Archives. They are all from the Finley Collection, a collection of books and maps related to the history and romance of the Old Northwest Territory. These three were selected because they showcase a variety of different book cover decorations. One is marbled, one is embossed, and one is both embossed and painted.

The earliest-published book shown here is the American Gazetteer. This book was published in 1798. This particular copy is the 2nd edition. It was written by Jedidiah Morse and printed in Boston, New England. This book’s cover is marbled with bold, bright colors. The edges of the pages are painted gold, and the leather spine is embossed with gold detailing. The pages are sewn in with thread. Everything about this binding is intricate and detailed. It’s 223 years old and still in perfect shape. 

Lyell’s Travels in the United States, Second Visit  was published in 1849. The cover is made with cloth, which was a common material in book publishing by the 1840’s. It features embossing in the shape of an ornately decorated frame across the cover. In the center of this frame, the text reads “Harper and Brothers, New-York.” This book’s pages are sewn in with thread. The back pages offer a “Book List of the Present Season”. It was published by Harper and Brothers, now called HarperCollins. There’s some damage to the spine, but the book has kept in good shape despite 172 years of use.

The last book shown here is A Trip to America, by W.M. Hardman. It was published in 1884. The front cover is embossed and painted with black paint, while the back cover features simple embossing. The front cover and the spine both use geometric and floral designs, as well as decorative text. The back cover is embossed in the shapes of a bouquet of flowers and leaves without color. This book was printed in London by T Vickers Wood. This book is the most modern of the books featured in this post at 137 years old.

-Wilder ‘24 

Finley Collection  E14 .M84 1798, E165 .L986 V. II,  E168 .H23

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/harper-brothers 

https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/3342 

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Artin’ Around

Old Main Juanita Louise Milgrim Prevar c. 1930 Beeswax

For my final Artin’ Around post, I thought I would share one of my favorite works in the collection! This massive wax sculpture of Knox College’s Old Main is over 3 ft. by 3 ft. and 200 pounds. Sculpted by student Juanita Louise Milgrim (K-1933) during her time at school, this work has been in the collection for almost 100 years. Milgrim was a biology student who was also a talented painter and sculptor (see the earlier Artin Around post about her scientific illustrations here). The sculpture was displayed in George Davis Hall until its removal in 1970 for the building remodeling following the relocation of the science departments to the current Umbeck Science Mathematics Center.

Wax has been used for sculpture for thousands of years because it is soft and easy to work with and can be easily colored and manipulated with the addition of pigment and oils, making it an excellent medium for creating incredibly naturalistic sculptures and even anatomical models. Wax sculptures continue to amaze us, as seen in the ongoing popularity of museums such as Madame Tussauds using many of the same wax sculpting techniques used for centuries.

  Decades of students, faculty, and visitors have drawn, printed, photographed, and painted Old Main and attempted to reflect the beauty and presence of the most notable building on campus. In recreating the building that decades of people have walked through and known, these artworks allow us to take a little bit of campus with us. When we see a work of art of Old Main, we might be reminded of the classes we took next to the tall rectangular windows, or the feeling of the uneven steps worn with thousands of footsteps, or the sound of voices echoing through the high-ceilinged hallways. Milgrim’s huge sculpture is a grand gesture of love: it reminds us of the shared monumentality of the college experience that goes beyond even the largest building.

  --Zuri

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Stack Stories!

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Illustrated by Gustave Doré, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1877.

Special Collections: Oversized

825 C693 Ord

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a seven part poem, six hundred and twenty six lines, about an old mariner telling a wedding guest the tale of his voyage at sea. The poem tells of good omens leading the ship out of iceberg ridden waters, and bad omens of ghost ships and the death of the albatross. The poem was first published in 1798 in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads. The poem is therefore Romantic, coming from one of the most prominent figures of the Romanticism period. However, the version our Special Collections has is influenced by more than one cultural era. This 1877 version is broken up into two sections. The first is only Coleridge’s poem, and alongside the  stanzas are extra descriptions in order to fill in some details that are harder to find in just the stanzas alone. The second part, and what makes this 1877 publication of the poem interesting, includes prints of Gustave Doré’s wood-carved images that follow along with the poem. The introduction of Gustave Doré’s art with Coleridge’s poetry mixes Romanticism poetry with Gothic art, and creates a contrast between the natural landscape and the haunting supernatural within the story. Including Doré’s art enhances the story, and the richly detailed artwork in this oversized book captures Coleridge’s imagery within the poem.

If you want to take a look at The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Gustave Doré’s artwork come stop by Knox College’s Special Collections and Archives!

-Jasmine Lamb ‘22

Work Consulted:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Rime-of-the-Ancient-Mariner 

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Stack Stories!

Dickinson, Emily. Poems. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890. 

Dickinson, Emily. Poems: Second Series. Boston: Robert Brothers, 1891.

Dickinson, Emily. Poems: Third Series. Boston: Robert Brothers, 1896. 

PS 1541.P6 1890

PS 1541. P6 1891

PS 1541.P6 1896

The weather outside is beautiful, and what better way to spend the outdoors than with a book of poetry! Here at Special Collections and Archives we have the beautiful first editions of the first, second, and third series of Dickinson’s poems that were published after her death. The books come in a hard container, and from the photos you can see how beautiful the inside is. Emily lived a bit of an eccentric life, preferring to stay inside and write than go out to social gatherings. Despite all of her writing though, her poems, and these books specifically, were not published until after her death in 1886. 

Publishing Dickinson’s work was a deeply collaborative effort in order to bring her poems to the rest of the world. The first part of her poems was published in 1890, and was edited and created by two of her friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson. It seems as though the two friends worked on the rest of the volumes as well, but only Todd is listed as editor for the third book. It is also worth noting that the majority of the poems that are found in these books were originally sent as letters to Dickinson’s friends, especially her sister in law, Susan Gilbert Dickinson. Apparently, Susan was the person who Dickinson valued the most in regards to feedback, and Susan often gave her advice and opinion on the poems. 

Emily Dickinson’s poems embrace a lot of themes about love, death, mental health, and were rather unconventional for the time. People often wonder who the poems were meant to be for, and whether some of the poems are the result of a secret love affair. So, if you’re looking to read some poetry this week check out Emily Dickinson at the Knox College Special Collections and Archives! 

-Jasmine ‘22

Works consulted:

https://poets.org/poet/emily-dickinson 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Dickinson/Mature-career 

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Artin’ Around

Mrs. Maria Whiting

Adelaide Johnson

1899

Marble

K-26-1

Adelaide Johnson (1859-1955) was a feminist sculptor from Plymouth, Illinois who gained fame at the turn of the 20th century with her sculptures of leaders of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and is best known for her sculpture, Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony which has been on display in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building since 1997. 

This bust of Maria Whiting, the president of the all-female Knox Seminary, is an important example of Johnson’s earlier works, and also has an interesting story to go along with it.

Around 1880, Johnson was attempting to get her fist commission when her brother Charles, who attended Knox College, arranged for Johnson to make a portrait of Knox’s president, Newton Bateman. Bateman sat for the portrait and Johnson completed a plaster version, but Bateman did not offer a commission. Several years later, however, Maria Whiting saw Bateman’s bust and commissioned Johnson to make a bust of her for $800: $200 when the clay model was complete, $200 during production of the marble bust, and the rest at delivery. Whiting sat for Johnson in 1894 and paid Johnson for the clay model, but died before Johnson began work on the marble version. Whiting’s estate did not continue to pay Johnson, and Johnson did not continue work on the bust. Eventually, the issue had to be resolved in court; it was decided that Johnson was entitled to $600, but had to complete the marble bust before the beginning of the trial. Fortunately, the completed bust (now on display in the Red Room at Seymour Library) arrived from Johnson’s studio in Italy on the morning that the trial was set to begin and further lawsuits were avoided. Johnson’s steadfast demands for accurate compensation continued throughout her career, as she would not sell her sculptures if she felt that the price offered did not reflect the value of her work. 

--Zuri

Burton, Shirley. Adelaide Johnson : to Make Immortal Their Adventurous Will. Macomb, Ill: Western Illinois University, 1986.

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Stack Stories!

Le Morte DArthur

Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte DArthur. London: published by David Nutt, In the Strand, 1889.

PR 2041. S7 V.l (Special Collections)

This giant, 861 page epic tells the tale of the legendary King Arthur and his kingdom of Camelot. Sir Thomas Malory took the Arthurian stories that he had read in French and combined them into his own version in order to create eight volumes in English. Le Morte D’Arthur is known as being the first book ever written in English, though if you were to pick up the book now the words would look a little strange. The story was originally written in 1469, which means the English language would have been just coming out of Middle English, so not quite what we consider to be Modern yet. 

While most people agree that nobody knows for sure who actually wrote the book, most agree that it was likely Thomas Malory who was a political prisoner during  The War of the Roses. It is widely believed that he wrote Le Morte DArthur while in prison, and somehow William Caxton got a hold of it in order to publish the story. Regardless of the book’s origins, the stories have influenced other writers, tv shows, and so, so many movies.

Le Morte DArthur is not the oldest version of the tale of King Arthur, but it is the most well known. In Malory’s version we see the story of how King Arthur came to be, the origin of the Sword in the Stone, and the love story that has been an inspiration for all YA love triangle romances. While the book is certainly about King Arthur, Malory also gives us the stories of the Knights of the Round Table, and seems more fond of telling the story of Brotherhood than focusing on love stories. This is how we get more details about Gawain, Tristram, and Galahad, the son of Lancelot. So, if you’re interested in tales of knights, love, and a look at what Middle English looked like, come stop by Special Collections!

-Jasmine Lamb ‘22

Works Consulted:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malory 

https://www.worldhistory.org/Thomas_Malory/ 

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Artin’ Around

As the spring flowers are beginning to bloom in Galesburg, spring flowers are also on display in the library! The new exhibit, Growing in Galesburg explores the manuscript collections of Marion Louise Palm Rosenberg (K-1931) and J. Louise Milgrim Prevar (K-1933) made up of plant pressings and watercolor scientific illustrations of flowering plants in Knox County. Collected for their honors biology projects, Rosenberg and Prevar went out into the field to collect plants, noting their locations, surrounding environmental conditions, and other nearby plantlife. They then pressed the plants and created scientific illustrations of the plants with watercolor, highlighting the features most important for identification. Both students went on to do scientific illustration professionally: Rosenberg made illustrations for the first edition of the popular zoology textbook, General Zoology by Tracy I. Storer while Prevar worked for decades at the Naval Oceanographic office as a scientific illustrator and editor who was responsible for creating Pilot Charts. 

This exhibit presents a selection of the pressings and illustrations from both illustrators, pairing the pressings collected in the field with the illustrations that were created from it. The paintings bring the pressings back to life with vibrant colors, textures, and fine details which make the watercolors interesting and specific as works of art, while also providing important identification information that gives them scientific value. The exhibit is located on the second floor of Seymour Library, so come on by!

--Zuri ‘20

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Joyce, James. Ulysses. The Limited Editions Club, 1935.  

Hemingway Collection: Oversize 

PR 6019 .09 U4 1935

James Joyce was an Irish modernist writer and his work Ulysses takes readers on a journey through Dublin. The novel introduced a new style of writing called “Stream of Consciousness,” which replicates the way that people actually think and process their feelings in real time. Besides this enthralling new way of writing, the book was also banned in many places, and was even taken to court against the United States. The reason being that the book was too scandalous, revealing too much about real everyday life than what people wanted/should witness. However, the ban was eventually lifted after the court finally ruled that it wasn’t too obscene. 

Ulysses, not only employs “stream of consciousness,” but each section is written in a different style. This in part contributes to how difficult the book is to read. In fact, the introduction of this special edition of the book goes more in depth about how critics felt about Joyce’s intentionally difficult writing. The introduction also attempts to defend Ulysses, going through common arguments against the books, as well as arguing that people still don’t give the book enough credit as a work of art. That issue may stem from the fact that the book is viewed as a “modern” Odyssey, and people get hung up on the nods to the original. Which is understandable considering each chapter is named after the different sections of the original Odyssey, and even the front cover of this edition shows figures that look like ancient Greek artwork.  

Regardless of its past critiques, the book has managed to gather enough enthusiasts that people celebrate it on June 16th, which is known as “Bloomsday.” The entire book takes place on June 16th, and to show their love, some people dress up as characters or visit Dublin, the city that the book takes place in. The book is fascinating, the way it was written, the response to it, and the fact that it contributed a large amount of words and phrases to the Oxford Dictionary. If you want to check out this modernist book and see how the editor tries to defend its existence, make an appointment to stop by the Archives! 

-Jasmine ‘22

 Works consulted: 

Ulysses and obscenity 

James Joyce died 76 years ago 

Why We Are No Longer Shocked by “Ulysses” 

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The Book of the Dead: Facsimiles of the Papyri of Hunefer, Anhai, Kerāsher and Netchemet: with Supplementary Text from the Papyrus of Nu transcribed and translated by E. A. Wallis Budge, Harrison and Sons, 1899.

Special Collections: Oversized

493.1 B724b

This fascinating book from the collection is a facsimile of The Book of the Dead that currently resides in the British Museum. For some clarification, a facsimile is a fancy way of saying that this book is a reproduced copy of the original papyrus. This copy was made in 1899 to be sold by the British Museum, and showcases Egyptian papyrus that details the rituals and journeys the dead would have to go through in order to reach their afterlife. Although this book has been coined The Book of the Dead, a more accurate title would be The Egyptian Book of Life, because the papyrus details the journey for the dead to move towards their life after death. In order to reach their next life, the dead would need to know the answers to the trials they would face on their journey, so the scripts provided all the answers. Therefore, the spells and knowledge within the images would only ever be used once the person in possession of them was among the dead. 

The copy that we have in Special Collections not only shows us the original papyrus, but also gives an explanation and translation of what each part says. The parts of the book are made up of papyrus from Hunefer, Anhai, Netchemet, Kerāsher, and Nu. Each section details different aspects of the journey and what the dead would need to know, and are all from different time periods. The scripts also show some recurring figures throughout the sections, such as the gods Anubis, Osiris and Ammut, who are a part of the judgement process of the dead. 

While an interesting book that allows us to see back thousands of years, it is also important to note how the original papyrus was obtained. In 1852, the British Museum purchased the scripts from a dealer who went by H Boone. There isn’t much information on the dealer online other than how long he was active and selling to the museum. The British Museum (in addition to other cultural heritage intuitions) has a varied history of possessing stolen artifacts from other regions, so it is worth investigating if the original papyrus was stolen. To find out more about some of the history of The British Museum and how they have acquired artifacts in the past check out some of the links below. 

-Jasmine ‘22

Works Consulted:

What is a Book of the Dead? 

papyrus 

H Boone 

ttps://www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Book_of_the_Dead/ 

Will the British Museum Ever Return These Stolen Artifacts? 

It's time for museums to return their stolen treasures 

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Stack Stories!

Maasai people (Kenya, Tanzania) Small Shield with two spear 1962 Animal hide, wood, reed, natural pigments, iron 12 1/4" X 7" 65-13-40 Donor: DeHaven C. Woodcock

If you look at Kenya’s flag, you are struck by the triad of red, green, and black. Adopted in 1963, the color symbolism of Kenya’s flag underscores the former British colony’s cry for independence. In the center of the flag, floating above the bands of red, green, and black, is a Maasai shield with spears. Symbolic of the Kenyan defense of freedom, the shield and spears are equally emblematic of Maasai culture. Active in the Mau Mau Uprising, beginning in 1952 and concluding in 1960, the leadership of the Maasai was fractured by British colonial officials in the 1900s through a series of treaties. Primarily a pastoralist group, the treaties decimated and diminished existing Maasai territories and inhibited tribal members from moving herds within the rains. While British colonialism restricted the Maasai’s semi-nomadic lifestyle and placed them into an anomalous position of sedentariness, warrior culture thrived in this Nilotic ethnic group’s art forms and socialization. While warriors traditionally tested their courage through raiding other tribes, the young Maasai warrior could still assess his bravery through a long-standing tradition of killing a lion while armed with only three implements: a double-edged machete, a spear, and a buffalo-hide shield. These shields, called elongo in the Maa or Kimaasai language of the Maasai, were used in warfare, hunting, and rites of passage. Buffalo or cattle hide was sewn onto a wooden frame decorated with polychrome geometric patterns known as sirata. Sirata distinguished age groups, warrior status, and notably clan achievements and affiliations. Other commentary indicates that sirata also denotes circumcision age, sectional, marks of bravery, and ornamentation. For example, the rare sirata el langarbwali symbol was awarded to tribal elders with outstanding bravery in battle. Each sirata is unique to the bearer and functions as a record of Maasai history, but original meanings of the sirata have been lost to time and are not widely known among contemporary Maasai.

The Maasai shield in the African Art collection is an outlier among the many examples of Maasai shields available in museum collections and auctions; this miniature shield is intended for children. The shield is constructed from a wooden (reed) armature, with animal hide delicately stitched to the convex reed frame. A central rib handle is attached at the centre back of the shield, wrapped with strips of animal hide.  The specific iconography of the sirata is unknown. The polychrome design of red, green, yellow, white, and black, was made from applied dyes, paints, and pigments. These applied colors were obtained by mixing different types of clays and ashes to achieve bright hues. For example, the black pigment could be easily obtained from mixing the skins of burnt gourds.Even blood was mixed with earth, further signifying how integral warfare and hunting are to Maasai life. The colors of this Maasai shield correspond to a narok triad -- black, red, and white -- accompanied by muain sidain, complementary colors such as the yellow and green used. Muain sidain roughly translates to ‘beautiful colors’ in Kimaasai, while narok means ‘black’. For now, we do not know the meaning of the sirata in question, but learning the specific clan behind the sirata will give us further insight into both the making of the elongo and the boy who carried this shield.

Brianna Perry ‘21

Consulted Works & Further Readings: 

Shield | Maasai peoples | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maasai Shield, East Africa

Black, white, and red all over: Tereneh Idia on the meaning of color in Maasai culture

Masai Shield, Kenya/Tanzania

The 'Elongo': The Power of the Maasai Shield — Google Arts & Culture

Blood and Leather—re-creating the Maasai war shield — ConserVentures

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/content/part/EANHS/No.%2037_201_1930_Storrs-Fox.pdf

Maasai and Ndebele Art

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Stack Stories!

This beautiful book in Special Collections Oversized Collection is entirely in French, and highlights various outfits throughout the history of France. Specifically this book shows masculine fashion through what appears to be ancient France through the Second Empire. Each time period has its own section that are separated as large pamphlets, so all the pages are disconnected from the spine of the book. 

From the two images below you can see some examples of the types of capes from the Renaissance era, as well as the specific kinds of designs and decorations that adorned them. The way that these pages were made also resemble fabric pattern books that we might find at stores now, however they do not include the actual patterns for recreating your own Renaissance cape. Regardless, the pictures are detailed, and might have been hand painted.

Another aspect of the book that’s great is that it does not just cover shirts or trousers, which is the basic attire for everyday wear. Instead, each time period also shows some of the extra attire that is specific to the time periods they would have been worn in. Like the above image shows different capes, the book also contains pages that show minor accessories such as hats! 

The pages also include short descriptions about each style as well, so if any of you happen to know French (or not) and are interested in fashion, stop by and check out this book in Special Collections!

-Jasmine Lamb ‘22

De Giafferri, Paul-Louis. Histoire du Costume Masculin Français: de l’an 420 à l’an 1870: La Gaule - Le Moyen-Age - La Renaissance, Louis XIII - Louis XIV - Louis XV - Louis XVI, La Révolution - L’ Empire - La Restauration, Le Second Empire. 144, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris: Éditions Nilsson, 1927.

Special Collections: Oversize 391.1G429

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Stack Stories!

“Children walking to school in snow” Original creation unknown Date digitized 12-22-2016  Knox College Allen Ayrault Green 7.0 x 5.0 in. The Allen Ayrault Green Collection, Green-Box2-554

The weather here at Knox during the midterm break has a chance of snow, and by a chance of, I mean it keeps snowing every day. So, what better time to reminisce of past snowy days here in the ‘burg than now! In this black and white photo from the Allen Ayrault Green Photograph Collection (Knox College), we can see some children trudging through the winter weather. One of the kids is even being pulled on a sled through the snow. There isn’t a lot of information for this specific photo, which is most likely due to the photos being delivered to Knox as glass plate negatives. However, the house on the left side of the photo looks like one of the many houses that line N Seminary St., so maybe we can narrow down some details of the photo. 

Allen Ayrault Green lived from 1880-1963, and was originally from Galesburg, which is reflected in the collection as many of the photos show people living in the town and at Knox. Green was a photographer for many places including the University of Chicago and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. He also helped explain how new technology, such as x-rays, worked with his photography. Some of the photos in this collection can also be found in Green’s published books, such as My Painted Tree and Other Poems and Rhymes of the Woods. Take a look through the digital collection in the link provided!

-Jasmine Lamb 2022

https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_green 

https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_green/id/532/rec/140 

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Artin’ Around

Clementine Hunter (1886/7 - 1988)

Untitled [Melrose Plantation]

n.d.

Quilt, fabric sewn on brown paper bags

Accession # 70-9-3

This beautiful quilt was made by self-taught Black folk artist Clementine Hunter depicting Melrose Plantation in Louisiana where she lived and worked for much of her life. By the 1920s, Melrose Plantation had turned into an artists colony where Hunter first began teaching herself to paint with paints left behind by previous artist inhabitants. Hunter’s paintings are unique for their depictions of the often-overlooked daily lives of Black laborers in the American South during the 20th century. Much of Hunter’s paintings show scenes like agricultural labor, weddings, baptisms, and funerals, such as the painting of cotton picking and a funeral procession on display in the library (see below). 

Hunter’s works were not limited to painting - she also created quilts and textiles in which she explores abstraction in conjunction with pictorial subject matter. This quilt depicts the buildings that make up Melrose Plantation including the Big House, Yucca House, Africa House, and two other buildings that might be artist cabins or even her own cabin along with stylized flowers. The use of textiles and quiltmaking techniques not only highlights her technical sewing ability, but also distinguishes her works from white, western art that privileges mediums like painting and sculpture. Hunter’s unique works and success within her lifetime and beyond speak to her mastery of both painting and textiles and her essential place in the history of art and America. 

For more information check out these books available at Seymour Library!

Clementine Hunter: Her Life and Art

Clementine Hunter, American Folk Artist

Talking with Tebé: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist

Clementine Hunter (1886/7 - 1988)

Untitled [Funeral Procession and Cotton Picking]

c.1950s

Oil on window shade

Accession # 70-9-4

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Stack Story!

“Alumni Hall, old library” 1899 Knox College Harold E. Way 10.4 x 7.6 cm

Did you know that Alumni Hall is where you could find some of Knox’s books in 1899? With Henry M. Seymour library being such a staple on our campus it is hard to imagine the campus before the building was built in 1928. Before our beautiful library was constructed, there wasn’t any one specific location on campus for the books that Knox had. Alumni Hall was just one of the various places the college’s small book collection was located. “Alumni Hall, old library” was originally taken in 1899, and you can see how different our books were stored on campus then. Bookshelves are scattered around the room in every place that they would fit, and the collection was small compared to our library now. This photo also highlights some art that the college had adorning the library, with the biggest being a replica of the famous statue Winged Victory. Our collection of art has grown since then, and you can now find various paintings throughout Henry M. Seymour Library.

The photo comes from the Harold Way Photograph Collection (Knox College), which has thousands of photographs that showcase how life was at Knox between 1890-1940s. Harold E. Way was a Knox College graduate and ended up teaching Physics at the college. You can check out more photos from the collection in the link below, and see how different Knox was in the earlier days of the college. Also take a look at this article by Jeffery A. Douglas (the current library director) that gives the history of Knox’s libraries!

-Jasmine Lamb 2023

References

https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_harold

http://knoxlibrary.knox.edu/archives/localhistory/seymourhistory/history1.html  

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Artin’ Around

Leaf from a Breviary

1350

France

Accession # (MSS) #5, 73-21-44

Leaf from a Roman Missal

1390

France

Accession # (MSS) #25, 73-21-43

This week, I am highlighting some of the oldest items in the Knox College: our medieval manuscripts! Prior to the intervention of the printing press in Europe, books were rare commodities that required a great deal of time and skill to make, and therefore a great deal of money to purchase. Most of these manuscripts were religious texts, such as the breviary and missal shown here. A breviary is a book containing prayers to be recited at particular times in the day (the canonical hours) and a missal contains the instructions, texts, and music for celebrating Mass. Most manuscripts would have been written in Latin, such as both of these pages here, a language that was largely only read and written by the clergy and some nobility. Both of these texts use an elaborate gothic font (also known as blackletter), but it is interesting to notice small changes in the spacing of letters. Earlier scripts spaced letters farther apart, but over time certain letters such as “de” or “pp” join together (called “biting”). These changes in script can be important tools to identify dates of manuscripts. 

The process of making a manuscript started with the parchment made from the skin of sheep, calves, or goats (or finer-quality vellum made from young goats or calves). The skin was chemically treated and stretched to create a smooth writing surface. The scribe would then lightly line the parchment to create a grid blocking out areas for writing and areas to be illustrated and write the text using a quill pen. Specialized scribes, called rubricators, would write key words or phrases in red ink. These rubricated words could indicate a new subject or heading, important ideas, or to separate actions to be taken (such as in the case of a missal) from the texts for reading. If the book was going to be illuminated (given drawings and/or gold leaf decorations) the illuminator would first outline the design and fill the areas to be gilded with a sticky substance such as sap or red clay bole. The thin sheet of gold would be applied to the wet areas and then burnished to create the smooth, shiny surface that we can still see today in these pages. After the gold is applied, the artist would paint the image with vibrant colors made from insects, minerals, and plants. 

Both of these pages include enlarged, decorative gilded initials, and the page from the breviary is even more richly decorated with an elaborate gilded border of leaves. Illuminated manuscripts exist at a fascinating intersection between art objects and functional objects. Unlike other artworks such as paintings and sculptures that we leave on walls and pedestals, illuminated manuscripts were intended to be both displayed and touched. These pages have a long tactile history as people through the centuries have read and flipped through their pages while also admiring their beauty.

-- Zuri ‘20

"The Making of a Medieval Book (Getty Exhibitions)." Getty: Resources for Visual Art and Cultural Heritage. Accessed January 22, 2021. https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/making/.

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Artin’ Around

An Historical Picture Map of the City of Galesburg, Illinois

Bengtson, Ruth Dahlberg [1901-1943]

1937

Printed map with color illustrations

24″ x 21.5″

Accession # 2014.39.1

Artin’ Around is back for the new year! Unlike previous years where Knox’s campus would be bustling with students returned home from break, this year campus is quiet as students remain remote from their homes. With this in mind, this week we are highlighting this illustrated map of Knox’s home, Galesburg, from 1937. 

This map was created for the centenary of Knox’s founding by Galesburg local Ruth Dahlberg Bengtson and published by the Knox College American Association of University Women of Galesburg, Illinois. Detailed and wonderfully illustrated Bengtson depicts the grid layout of the city and identifies the buildings that made up Galesburg now almost 100 years ago. Galesburgians will recognize some parts of the city such as Old Main, Standish Park, street names and roundabout, and the train tracks on the north side of downtown. The map also depicts many things that have changed, from the horses and buggies filling the streets to the buildings that have now been converted or even demolished so that now they only exist in historical photographs and maps. The edge of the map is filled with events and buildings from Galesburg history such as the Lincoln Douglas debates, the Brown Corn-Planter, the Underground Railroad, and the early “Log City” of the original settlers in 1837. It is interesting and important to be cognizant about the history of the spaces we currently inhabit and how and why those have changed over the past year, decade, century, and even millennium and how these spaces will continue to change in the future. 

Happy new year and happy first week of classes to Knox students!

- Zuri ‘20

Noted as of 01/11/2020: Though difficult to tell in this image, the map also includes depictions of enslaved individuals escaping through Galesburg. The depiction includes the quote: "Is they coming to git us?” The image has been noted to border on caricatures or stereotypical depictions of Black Americans. 

Like the above, patrons may encounter language and depictions that are today considered racist, stereotypical, offensive, and/or harmful. Language and depictions that come from the original item help students and patrons to understand the historical context of the time and the intentions of the authors. As such, Special Collections appreciates feedback and notices of problematic imagery and descriptions. With additional details such as the above, we can then build on descriptions and include helpful context for future projects, assignments, and classes. 

[knoxspeccoll]

Artin’ Around

Ralph Fletcher Seymour (1876-1966)

Two Friends

n.d.

Etching

5 ⅜” x 7 ⅜”

Accession # 37-1-22

Check out these two friends taking a socially distanced walk outside - a much safer alternative to indoor gatherings! 

This print by Ralph Fletcher Seymour depicts two friends walking in a wooded area dwarfed by the massive gnarled tree taking up the entire right side of the image. Although there are small buildings in the background, the figures stand below the height of the distant hills and underneath the canopies of the trees, completely enveloping the friends and integrating them into the slice of nature. Because of the scale and sharp details, the tree in the foreground demands more attention than the titular friends as the individual leaves wave and hang in the air and the roots and branches reach out, claiming space in the image. 

Described as a “Renaissance Man of the 20th century,” Ralph Fletcher Seymour was an important artist, author, and publisher working primarily in Chicago where his position as a teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago and as the head of his publishing company, Alderbrink Press, put him in contact with many artists and authors such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Frost. In 1937, Seymour was also the artist-in-residence at Knox College where he taught and did a number of artworks for the college that are still in the collection, such as an etching of Old Main in celebration of the centenary of the College in 1937. Seymour’s relationship with Knox continued beyond his stay in Galesburg, as evidenced by Seymour’s gift of the painting, Lincoln Debating Douglas, in celebration of 100 years since the Lincoln Douglas Debate. Knox students may recognize this painting from its current location in the hallway on the first floor of Old Main [see below].

Wishing everyone happy and safe holidays!

- Zuri ‘20

Ralph Fletcher Seymour

Lincoln Debating Douglas

1958

Oil on canvas

64” x 49 ½” 

Accession # 56-2-1

Photograph courtesy of Knox College Office of Communications